Signal processing method and device

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the present invention provide a signal processing method and device. The method includes: receiving soft information corresponding to encoded signals sent by at least two base stations and CRC check results of decoding results of first subflows in the encoded signals, where the soft information includes first soft information corresponding to the first subflows; obtaining a selective combining result of the first subflows by performing selective combining according to the at least two CRC check results of the decoding results of the first subflows; and if the selective combining result of the first subflows is that CRC check is incorrect, determining a soft combining result of the first subflows according to at least two pieces of the first soft information. The signal processing method and device provided in the embodiments can increase a signal gain.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/078,829, filed on Mar. 23, 2016, which is a continuation ofInternational Application No. PCT/CN2014/080320, filed on Jun. 19, 2014,which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201310436667.1,filed on Sep. 23, 2013. The afore-mentioned patent applications arehereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the present invention relate to communicationstechnologies, and in particular, to a signal processing method anddevice.

BACKGROUND

In a mobile communications system, when a mobile station in a connectedstate moves from one cell to another cell, to prevent communication frombeing interrupted, a communications network control system usuallystarts a handover process to ensure service transmission of the mobilestation. A handover technology used in a Wideband Code Division MultipleAccess (WCDMA) system mainly includes an intra-system hard handover, aninter-system hard handover, a soft handover, and a softer handover.

For a soft handover, a mobile station is located in an overlapped partcovered by two sectors of different base stations. In a downlinkdirection from the base stations to the mobile station, the mobilestation simultaneously communicates with the two base stations by usingair interface channels from the two base stations, and receives, byusing a Rake receiver and in a manner of maximum ratio combining,signals transmitted by the two air interface channels. In an uplinkdirection from the mobile station to the two base stations, the two basestations receive encoded signals sent by the mobile station, decode theencoded signals, and send decoding results and cyclic redundancy check(CRC) check results to a radio network controller (RNC); and the RNCperforms selective combining according to the CRC check results, andsends a result of the selective combining to a core network, to performa subsequent communication process.

However, as the RNC performs selective combining according to the CRCcheck results, a macro diversity gain of the soft handover cannot befully used, so that a maximum gain of a signal cannot be obtained.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present invention provide a signal processing methodand device, to increase a signal gain.

According to a first aspect, an embodiment of the present inventionprovides a signal processing method, including:

receiving soft information corresponding to encoded signals sent by atleast two base stations and cyclic redundancy check CRC check results ofdecoding results of first subflows in the encoded signals, to obtain atleast two pieces of the soft information and at least two CRC checkresults of the decoding results of the first subflows, where the softinformation includes first soft information corresponding to the firstsubflows;

obtaining a selective combining result of the first subflows byperforming selective combining according to the at least two CRC checkresults of the decoding results of the first subflows; and

if the selective combining result of the first subflows is that CRCcheck is incorrect, determining a soft combining result of the firstsubflows according to at least two pieces of the first soft information.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first possible implementationmanner of the first aspect, the first soft information is firstdemodulation soft information, and the determining a soft combiningresult of the first subflows according to at least two pieces of thefirst soft information includes:

obtaining first accumulated demodulation soft information byaccumulating at least two pieces of the first demodulation softinformation; and

acquiring a first accumulated decoding result by decoding the firstaccumulated demodulation soft information, and using the firstaccumulated decoding result as the soft combining result of the firstsubflows.

With reference to the first aspect, in a second possible implementationmanner of the first aspect, the first soft information is first decodingsoft information, and the determining a soft combining result of thefirst subflows according to at least two pieces of the first softinformation includes:

obtaining first accumulated decoding soft information by accumulating atleast two pieces of the first decoding soft information; and

performing hard decision on the first accumulated decoding softinformation, and using a hard decision result as the soft combiningresult of the first subflows.

With reference to the first or second possible implementation manner ofthe first aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the firstaspect, the encoded signals further include second subflows and thirdsubflows, and the soft information further includes second demodulationsoft information corresponding to the second subflows and thirddemodulation soft information corresponding to the third subflows; and

the method further includes:

obtaining second accumulated demodulation soft information byaccumulating at least two pieces of the second demodulation softinformation, acquiring a second accumulated decoding result by decodingthe second accumulated demodulation soft information, and using thesecond accumulated decoding result as a first soft combining result ofthe second subflows; and

obtaining third accumulated demodulation soft information byaccumulating at least two pieces of the third demodulation softinformation, acquiring a third accumulated decoding result by decodingthe third accumulated demodulation soft information, and using the thirdaccumulated decoding result as a first soft combining result of thethird subflows.

With reference to the first or second possible implementation manner ofthe first aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of thefirst aspect, the encoded signals further include second subflows andthird subflows, and the soft information further includes seconddecoding soft information corresponding to the second subflows and thirddecoding soft information corresponding to the third subflows; and

the method further includes:

obtaining second accumulated decoding soft information by accumulatingat least two pieces of the second decoding soft information, performinghard decision on the second accumulated decoding soft information, andusing a hard decision result as a second soft combining result of thesecond subflows; and

obtaining third accumulated decoding soft information by accumulating atleast two pieces of the third decoding soft information, performing harddecision on the third accumulated decoding soft information, and using ahard decision result as a second soft combining result of the thirdsubflows.

With reference to the first or second possible implementation manner ofthe first aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the firstaspect, the encoded signals further include second subflows and thirdsubflows, and the soft information further includes second soft metricscorresponding to the second subflows and third soft metricscorresponding to the third subflows; and

the method further includes:

receiving decoding results of the second subflows and decoding resultsof the third subflows that are sent by the at least two base stations;

comparing the second soft metrics corresponding to the second subflows,and using a decoding result of a second subflow corresponding to amaximum second soft metric as a third soft combining result of thesecond subflows; and

comparing the third soft metrics corresponding to the third subflows,and using a decoding result of a third subflow corresponding to amaximum third soft metric as a third soft combining result of the thirdsubflows.

With reference to any one of the first to fifth possible implementationmanners of the first aspect, in a sixth possible implementation mannerof the first aspect, before the performing selective combining accordingto the at least two CRC check results of the decoding results of thefirst subflows to obtain a selective combining result of the firstsubflows, the method further includes:

receiving the decoding results of the first subflows sent by the atleast two base stations and bit error rates corresponding to thedecoding results of the first subflows; and

the method further includes:

if the selective combining result of the first subflows is that CRCcheck is correct, determining, among the decoding results of the firstsubflows whose CRC check is correct, a decoding result of a firstsubflow having a lowest bit error rate.

With reference to any one of the first to sixth possible implementationmanners of the first aspect, in a seventh possible implementation mannerof the first aspect, after the determining a soft combining result ofthe first subflows according to at least two pieces of the first softinformation, the method further includes:

sending the selective combining result of the first subflows to an outerloop power control module, so that the outer loop power control modulecontrols transmit power of a mobile station; or

performing CRC check on the soft combining result of the first subflows,and sending a check result to an outer loop power control module, sothat the outer loop power control module controls transmit power of amobile station.

According to a second aspect, an embodiment of the present inventionprovides a signal processing method, including:

receiving an encoded signal sent by a mobile station, where the encodedsignal includes a first subflow;

acquiring soft information corresponding to the encoded signal and acyclic redundancy check CRC check result of a decoding result of thefirst subflow, where the soft information includes first softinformation corresponding to the first subflow; and

sending the soft information corresponding to the encoded signal and theCRC check result of the decoding result of the first subflow in theencoded signal to a radio network controller, so that the radio networkcontroller performs selective combining according to the CRC checkresult of the decoding result of the first subflow in the encoded signalto obtain a selective combining result of the first subflow, anddetermines a soft combining result of the first subflow according to thefirst soft information.

With reference to the second aspect, in a first possible implementationmanner of the second aspect, the first soft information is firstdemodulation soft information, or, the first soft information is firstdecoding soft information.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the secondaspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the second aspect,the encoded signal further includes a second subflow and a thirdsubflow, and the soft information further includes second demodulationsoft information corresponding to the second subflow and thirddemodulation soft information corresponding to the third subflow.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of thesecond aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the secondaspect, the encoded signal further includes a second subflow and a thirdsubflow, the soft information further includes second decoding softinformation corresponding to the second subflow and third decoding softinformation corresponding to the third subflow.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of thesecond aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the secondaspect, the encoded signal further includes a second subflow and a thirdsubflow; and

before the sending the soft information corresponding to the encodedsignal and the CRC check result of the decoding result of the firstsubflow in the encoded signal to a radio network controller, the methodfurther includes:

encoding a decoding result of the second subflow to obtain an encodedbit of the second subflow, and generating, according to the encoded bitof the second subflow and second demodulation soft informationcorresponding to the second subflow, a second soft metric correspondingto the second subflow; and

encoding a decoding result of the third subflow to obtain an encoded bitof the third subflow, and generating, according to the encoded bit ofthe third subflow and third demodulation soft information correspondingto the third subflow, a third soft metric corresponding to the thirdsubflow, where the soft information further includes the second softmetric corresponding to the second subflow and the third soft metriccorresponding to the third subflow.

With reference to any one of the first to fourth possible implementationmanners of the second aspect, in a fifth possible implementation mannerof the second aspect, the method further includes:

sending the decoding result of the first subflow in the encoded signaland a bit error rate corresponding to the decoding result of the firstsubflow to the radio network controller, so that the radio networkcontroller determines a decoding result of a first subflow having alowest bit error rate.

According to a third aspect, an embodiment of the present inventionprovides a radio network controller, including:

a receiving module, configured to receive soft information correspondingto encoded signals sent by at least two base stations and cyclicredundancy check CRC check results of decoding results of first subflowsin the encoded signals, to obtain at least two pieces of the softinformation and at least two CRC check results of the decoding resultsof the first subflows, where the soft information includes first softinformation corresponding to the first subflows;

a selective combining module, configured to obtain a selective combiningresult of the first subflows by performing selective combining accordingto the at least two CRC check results of the decoding results of thefirst subflows; and

a soft combining module, configured to: if the selective combiningresult of the first subflows is that CRC check is incorrect, determine asoft combining result of the first subflows according to at least twopieces of the first soft information.

With reference to the third aspect, in a first possible implementationmanner of the third aspect, the first soft information is firstdemodulation soft information, and the soft combining module isspecifically configured to:

obtain first accumulated demodulation soft information by accumulatingat least two pieces of the first demodulation soft information; and

acquire a first accumulated decoding result by decoding the firstaccumulated demodulation soft information, and use the first accumulateddecoding result as the soft combining result of the first subflows.

With reference to the third aspect, in a second possible implementationmanner of the third aspect, the first soft information is first decodingsoft information, and the soft combining module is specificallyconfigured to:

obtain first accumulated decoding soft information by accumulating atleast two pieces of the first decoding soft information; and

perform hard decision on the first accumulated decoding softinformation, and use a hard decision result as the soft combining resultof the first subflows.

With reference to the first or second possible implementation manner ofthe third aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the thirdaspect, the encoded signals further include second subflows and thirdsubflows, and the soft information further includes second demodulationsoft information corresponding to the second subflows and thirddemodulation soft information corresponding to the third subflows; and

the soft combining module is further specifically configured to:

obtain second accumulated demodulation soft information by accumulatingat least two pieces of the second demodulation soft information, acquirea second accumulated decoding result by decoding the second accumulateddemodulation soft information, and use the second accumulated decodingresult as a first soft combining result of the second subflows; and

obtain third accumulated demodulation soft information by accumulatingat least two pieces of the third demodulation soft information, decodethe third accumulated demodulation soft information to acquire a thirdaccumulated decoding result, and use the third accumulated decodingresult as a first soft combining result of the third subflows.

With reference to the first or second possible implementation manner ofthe third aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of thethird aspect, the encoded signals further include second subflows andthird subflows, and the soft information further includes seconddecoding soft information corresponding to the second subflows and thirddecoding soft information corresponding to the third subflows; and

the soft combining module is further specifically configured to:

obtain second accumulated decoding soft information by accumulating atleast two pieces of the second decoding soft information, perform harddecision on the second accumulated decoding soft information, and use ahard decision result as a second soft combining result of the secondsubflows; and

obtain third accumulated decoding soft information by accumulating atleast two pieces of the third decoding soft information, perform harddecision on the third accumulated decoding soft information, and use ahard decision result as a second soft combining result of the thirdsubflows.

With reference to the first or second possible implementation manner ofthe third aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the thirdaspect, the encoded signals further include second subflows and thirdsubflows, and the soft information further includes second soft metricscorresponding to the second subflows and third soft metricscorresponding to the third subflows; and

the receiving module is further specifically configured to:

receive decoding results of the second subflows and decoding results ofthe third subflows that are sent by the at least two base stations;

compare the second soft metrics corresponding to the second subflows,and use a decoding result of a second subflow corresponding to a maximumsecond soft metric as a third soft combining result of the secondsubflows; and

compare the third soft metrics corresponding to the third subflows, anduse a decoding result of a third subflow corresponding to a maximumthird soft metric as a third soft combining result of the thirdsubflows.

With reference to any one of the first to fifth possible implementationmanners of the third aspect, in a sixth possible implementation mannerof the third aspect, the receiving module is further specificallyconfigured to: before selective combining is performed according to theat least two CRC check results of the decoding results of the firstsubflows to obtain the selective combining result of the first subflows,receive the decoding results of the first subflows sent by the at leasttwo base stations and bit error rates corresponding to the decodingresults of the first subflows; and

the radio network controller further includes:

a check module, configured to: if the selective combining result of thefirst subflows is that CRC check is correct, determine, among thedecoding results of the first subflows whose CRC check is correct, adecoding result of a first subflow having a lowest bit error rate.

With reference to any one of the first to sixth possible implementationmanners of the third aspect, in a seventh possible implementation mannerof the third aspect, the radio network controller further includes:

a sending module, configured to: after the soft combining result of thefirst subflows is determined according to the at least two pieces offirst soft information, send the selective combining result of the firstsubflows to an outer loop power control module, so that the outer looppower control module controls transmit power of a mobile station; or

perform CRC check on the soft combining result of the first subflows,and send a check result to an outer loop power control module, so thatthe outer loop power control module controls transmit power of a mobilestation.

According to a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present inventionprovides a base station, including:

a receiving module, configured to receive an encoded signal sent by amobile station, where the encoded signal includes a first subflow;

an acquiring module, configured to acquire soft informationcorresponding to the encoded signal and a cyclic redundancy check CRCcheck result of a decoding result of the first subflow, where the softinformation includes first soft information corresponding to the firstsubflow; and

a sending module, configured to send the soft information correspondingto the encoded signal and the CRC check result of the decoding result ofthe first subflow in the encoded signal to a radio network controller,so that the radio network controller performs selective combiningaccording to the CRC check result of the decoding result of the firstsubflow in the encoded signal to obtain a selective combining result ofthe first subflow, and determines a soft combining result of the firstsubflow according to the first soft information.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a first possible implementationmanner of the fourth aspect, the first soft information is firstdemodulation soft information, or, the first soft information is firstdecoding soft information.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the fourthaspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect,the encoded signal further includes a second subflow and a thirdsubflow, and the soft information further includes second demodulationsoft information corresponding to the second subflow and thirddemodulation soft information corresponding to the third subflow.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of thefourth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the fourthaspect, the encoded signal further includes a second subflow and a thirdsubflow, and the soft information further includes second decoding softinformation corresponding to the second subflow and third decoding softinformation corresponding to the third subflow.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of thefourth aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the fourthaspect, the encoded signal further includes a second subflow and a thirdsubflow, and the base station further includes:

an encoding module, configured to: before the soft informationcorresponding to the encoded signal and the CRC check result of thedecoding result of the first subflow in the encoded signal are sent tothe radio network controller,

encode a decoding result of the second subflow to obtain an encoded bitof the second subflow, and generate, according to the encoded bit of thesecond subflow and second demodulation soft information corresponding tothe second subflow, a second soft metric corresponding to the secondsubflow; and

encode a decoding result of the third subflow to obtain an encoded bitof the third subflow, and generate, according to the encoded bit of thethird subflow and third demodulation soft information corresponding tothe third subflow, a third soft metric corresponding to the thirdsubflow, where the soft information further includes the second softmetric corresponding to the second subflow and the third soft metriccorresponding to the third subflow.

With reference to any one of the first to fourth possible implementationmanners of the fourth aspect, in a fifth possible implementation mannerof the fourth aspect, the sending module is further specificallyconfigured to:

send the decoding result of the first subflow in the encoded signal anda bit error rate corresponding to the decoding result of the firstsubflow to the radio network controller, so that the radio networkcontroller determines a decoding result of a first subflow having alowest bit error rate.

According to a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present inventionprovides a radio network controller, including:

a receiver, configured to receive soft information corresponding toencoded signals sent by at least two base stations and cyclic redundancycheck CRC check results of decoding results of first subflows in theencoded signals, to obtain at least two pieces of the soft informationand at least two CRC check results of the decoding results of the firstsubflows, where the soft information includes first soft informationcorresponding to the first subflows; and

a processor, configured to obtain a selective combining result of thefirst subflows by performing selective combining according to the atleast two CRC check results of the decoding results of the firstsubflows, and if the selective combining result of the first subflows isthat CRC check is incorrect, determine a soft combining result of thefirst subflows according to at least two pieces of the first softinformation.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in a first possible implementationmanner of the fifth aspect, the first soft information is firstdemodulation soft information, the processor is specifically configuredto:

obtain first accumulated demodulation soft information by accumulatingat least two pieces of the first demodulation soft information; and

acquire a first accumulated decoding result by decoding the firstaccumulated demodulation soft information, and use the first accumulateddecoding result as the soft combining result of the first subflows.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in a second possible implementationmanner of the fifth aspect, the first soft information is first decodingsoft information, and the processor is specifically configured to:

obtain first accumulated decoding soft information by accumulating atleast two pieces of the first decoding soft information; and

perform hard decision on the first accumulated decoding softinformation, and use a hard decision result as the soft combining resultof the first subflows.

With reference to the first or second possible implementation manner ofthe fifth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the fifthaspect, the encoded signals further include second subflows and thirdsubflows, and the soft information further includes second demodulationsoft information corresponding to the second subflows and thirddemodulation soft information corresponding to the third subflows; and

the processor is further configured to:

obtain second accumulated demodulation soft information by accumulatingat least two pieces of the second demodulation soft information, acquirea second accumulated decoding result by decoding the second accumulateddemodulation soft information, and use the second accumulated decodingresult as a first soft combining result of the second subflows; and

obtain third accumulated demodulation soft information by accumulatingat least two pieces of the third demodulation soft information, decodethe third accumulated demodulation soft information to acquire a thirdaccumulated decoding result, and use the third accumulated decodingresult as a first soft combining result of the third subflows.

With reference to the first or second possible implementation manner ofthe fifth aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of thefifth aspect, the encoded signals further include second subflows andthird subflows, and the soft information further includes seconddecoding soft information corresponding to the second subflows and thirddecoding soft information corresponding to the third subflows; and

the processor is further configured to:

obtain second accumulated decoding soft information by accumulating atleast two pieces of the second decoding soft information, perform harddecision on the second accumulated decoding soft information, and use ahard decision result as a second soft combining result of the secondsubflows; and

obtain third accumulated decoding soft information by accumulating atleast two pieces of the third decoding soft information, perform harddecision on the third accumulated decoding soft information, and use ahard decision result as a second soft combining result of the thirdsubflows.

With reference to the first or second possible implementation manner ofthe fifth aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the fifthaspect, the encoded signals further include second subflows and thirdsubflows, and the soft information further includes second soft metricscorresponding to the second subflows and third soft metricscorresponding to the third subflows;

the receiver is further configured to receive decoding results of thesecond subflows and decoding results of the third subflows that are sentby the at least two base stations; and

the processor is further configured to:

compare the second soft metrics corresponding to the second subflows,and use a decoding result of a second subflow corresponding to a maximumsecond soft metric as a third soft combining result of the secondsubflows; and

compare the third soft metrics corresponding to the third subflows, anduse a decoding result of a third subflow corresponding to a maximumthird soft metric as a third soft combining result of the thirdsubflows.

With reference to any one of the first to fifth possible implementationmanners of the fifth aspect, in a sixth possible implementation mannerof the fifth aspect, the receiver is further configured to: beforeselective combining is performed according to the at least two CRC checkresults of the decoding results of the first subflows to obtain theselective combining result of the first subflows, receive the decodingresults of the first subflows sent by the at least two base stations andbit error rates corresponding to the decoding results of the firstsubflows; and

the processor is further configured to:

if the selective combining result of the first subflows is that CRCcheck is correct, determine, among the decoding results of the firstsubflows whose CRC check is correct, a decoding result of a firstsubflow having a lowest bit error rate.

With reference to any one of the first to sixth possible implementationmanners of the fifth aspect, in a seventh possible implementation mannerof the fifth aspect, the radio network controller further includes: atransmitter, configured to: after the soft combining result of the firstsubflows is determined according to the at least two pieces of firstsoft information, send the selective combining result of the firstsubflows to an outer loop power control module, so that the outer looppower control module controls transmit power of a mobile station; or

the processor is further configured to: after the soft combining resultof the first subflows is determined according to the at least two piecesof first soft information, perform CRC check on the soft combiningresult of the first subflows, and a transmitter is further specificallyconfigured to send a check result to an outer loop power control module,so that the outer loop power control module controls transmit power of amobile station.

According to a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present inventionprovides a base station, including:

a receiver, configured to receive an encoded signal sent by a mobilestation, where the encoded signal includes a first subflow;

a processor, configured to acquire soft information corresponding to theencoded signal and a CRC check result of a decoding result of the firstsubflow, where the soft information includes first soft informationcorresponding to the first subflow; and

a transmitter, configured to send the soft information corresponding tothe encoded signal and the cyclic redundancy check CRC check result ofthe decoding result of the first subflow in the encoded signal to aradio network controller, so that the radio network controller performsselective combining according to the CRC check result of the decodingresult of the first subflow in the encoded signal to obtain a selectivecombining result of the first subflow, and determines a soft combiningresult of the first subflow according to the first soft information.

With reference to the sixth aspect, in a first possible implementationmanner of the sixth aspect, the first soft information is firstdemodulation soft information, or, the first soft information is firstdecoding soft information.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the sixthaspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect,the encoded signal further includes a second subflow and a thirdsubflow, and the soft information further includes second demodulationsoft information corresponding to the second subflow and thirddemodulation soft information corresponding to the third subflow.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the sixthaspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect,the encoded signal further includes a second subflow and a thirdsubflow, and the soft information further includes second decoding softinformation corresponding to the second subflow and third decoding softinformation corresponding to the third subflow.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the sixthaspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect,the encoded signal further includes a second subflow and a thirdsubflow; and

the processor is further configured to: before the soft informationcorresponding to the encoded signal and the CRC check result of thedecoding result of the first subflow in the encoded signal are sent tothe radio network controller, encode a decoding result of the secondsubflow to obtain an encoded bit of the second subflow, and generate,according to the encoded bit of the second subflow and seconddemodulation soft information corresponding to the second subflow, asecond soft metric corresponding to the second subflow; and

encode a decoding result of the third subflow to obtain an encoded bitof the third subflow, and generate, according to the encoded bit of thethird subflow and third demodulation soft information corresponding tothe third subflow, a third soft metric corresponding to the thirdsubflow, where

the soft information further includes the second soft metriccorresponding to the second subflow and the third soft metriccorresponding to the third subflow.

With reference to any one of the first to fourth possible implementationmanners of the sixth aspect, in a fifth possible implementation mannerof the sixth aspect, the transmitter is further specifically configuredto:

send the decoding result of the first subflow in the encoded signal anda bit error rate corresponding to the decoding result of the firstsubflow to the radio network controller, so that the radio networkcontroller determines a decoding result of a first subflow having alowest bit error rate.

According to the signal processing method and device provided in theembodiments of the present invention, an RNC receives soft informationcorresponding to encoded signals sent by at least two base stations andCRC check results of decoding results of first subflows in the encodedsignals, to obtain at least two pieces of the soft information and atleast two CRC check results of the decoding results of the firstsubflows, where the soft information includes first soft informationcorresponding to the first subflows; performs selective combiningaccording to the at least two CRC check results of the decoding resultsof the first subflows to obtain a selective combining result of thefirst subflows; and if the selective combining result of the firstsubflows is that CRC check is incorrect, determines a soft combiningresult of the first subflows according to at least two pieces of thefirst soft information. In the embodiments, not only two decodingprocesses are performed, in the second decoding process, softinformation is used to perform maximum ratio soft combining, so that amacro diversity gain of a soft handover is fully used, thereby greatlyimproving performance.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

To describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the presentinvention more clearly, the following briefly introduces theaccompanying drawings required for describing the embodiments.Apparently, the accompanying drawings in the following description showsome embodiments of the present invention, and a person of ordinaryskill in the art may still derive other drawings from these accompanyingdrawings without creative efforts.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of Embodiment 1 of a signal processing methodaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of Embodiment 2 of a signal processing methodaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of simulation of MOS performance on aCASE3 channel according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of Embodiment 1 of a radionetwork controller according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of Embodiment 2 of a radionetwork controller according to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of Embodiment 1 of a basestation according to the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of Embodiment 3 of a radionetwork controller according to the present invention; and

FIG. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of Embodiment 2 of a basestation according to the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of theembodiments of the present invention clearer, the following clearlydescribes the technical solutions in the embodiments of the presentinvention with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodimentsof the present invention. Apparently, the described embodiments are somebut not all of the embodiments of the present invention. All otherembodiments obtained by a person of ordinary skill in the art based onthe embodiments of the present invention without creative efforts shallfall within the protection scope of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of Embodiment 1 of a signal processing methodaccording to the present invention. An execution body of this embodimentis a base station controller, which may be a base station controller(BSC) in a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) system or acode division multiple access (CDMA) 2000 system, or a radio networkcontroller (RNC) in a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA)system, which is not limited in the present invention. However, for easeof description, in the following embodiment, an RNC is used as anexample for description. The RNC may be implemented by using softwareand/or hardware. The signal processing method provided in thisembodiment includes:

Step 101: Receive soft information corresponding to encoded signals sentby at least two base stations and CRC check results of decoding resultsof first subflows in the encoded signals, to obtain at least two piecesof the soft information and at least two CRC check results of thedecoding results of the first subflows, where the soft informationincludes first soft information corresponding to the first subflows.

Step 102: Obtain a selective combining result of the first subflows byperforming selective combining according to the at least two CRC checkresults of the decoding results of the first subflows.

Step 103: If the selective combining result of the first subflows isthat CRC check is incorrect, determine a soft combining result of thefirst subflows according to at least two pieces of the first softinformation.

In a specific implementation process, this embodiment may be applied toa scenario of a soft handover. In a process of a soft handover, in anuplink direction from a mobile station to at least two base stations,the at least two base stations receive encoded signals sent by themobile station; the at least two base stations perform processing on thereceived encoded signals, and send processing results of the encodedsignals to an RNC; and the RNC obtains the processing resultscorresponding to the at least two encoded signals, then performscorresponding processing, and sends final processing results to a corenetwork, so that the core network performs a subsequent communicationprocess.

In step 101, the at least two base stations perform same actions. Eachbase station sends soft information corresponding to an encoded signaland a CRC check result of a decoding result of a first subflow in theencoded signal to the RNC. In this embodiment, one base station is usedas an example for description. In this embodiment, the encoded signalmay include only a first subflow, or may further include a secondsubflow and a third subflow. Particularly, the first subflow includes acyclic redundancy check (CRC) code. Herein, detailed description isfirst given for that the encoded signal includes the first subflow.

In a specific implementation process, there are two possibleimplementation manners in which the base station performs processing onthe received encoded signals sent by the mobile station.Correspondingly, there are also two possible implementation manners inwhich the RNC receives the soft information sent by the base station. Aperson skilled in the art may understand that the soft information is alikelihood probability value rather than a binary sequence whichconsists of 0 and 1 after a decision is made.

In one possible implementation manner, the RNC receives the softinformation corresponding to the encoded signals sent by the at leasttwo base stations and the CRC check results of the decoding results ofthe two first subflows in the encoded signals, where the first softinformation is first demodulation soft information.

In a coding process of a source signal (from a mobile station), afterpassing through a source encoder, a channel encoder, and an modulator,the source signal is converted into an encoded signal suitable forchannel transmission. In a transmission process, the encoded signalencounters various types of interference and becomes distorted. Such adistorted encoded signal is transmitted to a receiver of a base station,and needs to be demodulated by a decoding demodulator to turn into abinary or base-n information sequence. In this embodiment of the presentinvention, the decoding demodulator disposed in the base stationdemodulates a first subflow in the distorted encoded signal into abase-n information sequence of a log-likelihood ratio sequence, wherethe base-n information sequence is referred to as first demodulationsoft information in this embodiment.

At the same time, the base station may decode the first subflow in theencoded signal by using a Turbo decoding algorithm or a Viterbi decodingalgorithm to acquire the decoding result of the first subflow. For thedecoding algorithm in this embodiment, another decoding algorithm mayfurther be selected, and is not specifically limited in this embodiment.After acquiring the decoding result of the first subflow, the basestation performs CRC check on the decoding result of the first subflow,to acquire a CRC check result of the decoding result of the firstsubflow, and then the base station sends the first demodulation softinformation corresponding to the encoded signal and the CRC check resultof the decoding result of the first subflow in the encoded signal to theRNC.

In another possible implementation manner, the RNC receives the softinformation corresponding to the encoded signals sent by the at leasttwo base stations and the CRC check results of the decoding results ofthe first subflows in the encoded signals, where the first softinformation is first decoding soft information.

In this embodiment, the soft information is decoding soft informationrather than demodulation soft information. A difference between thedemodulation soft information and the decoding soft information is that:The decoding demodulator disposed in the base station demodulates thefirst subflow in the distorted encoded signal into the base-ninformation sequence of the log-likelihood ratio sequence, that is,after the base station obtains the first demodulation soft information,the base station decodes the first demodulation soft information toobtain the first decoding soft information. In a specific implementationprocess, any soft input/soft output decoding algorithm is applicable tothis embodiment.

Other implementation processes of this embodiment are similar to thepossible implementation manners corresponding to the first demodulationsoft information, and are not described herein again in this embodiment.Finally, the base station sends the first decoding soft informationcorresponding to the encoded signal and the CRC check result of thedecoding result of the first subflow in the encoded signal to the RNC.

In step 102, the RNC performs the selective combining according to theat least two CRC check results of the decoding results of the firstsubflows, and obtains the selective combining result of the firstsubflows.

A person skilled in the art may understand that, in a specificimplementation process, there are at least two base stations. Therefore,for the RNC, the RNC finally acquires at least two CRC check results ofdecoding results of first subflows, and the RNC needs to performselective combining on the at least two CRC check results. In thisembodiment, a final result of selective combining is referred to as aselective combining result of the first subflows. In a process ofperforming selective combining by the RNC, as long as one CRC checkresult of a decoding result of a first subflow is 0, a first combiningresult is CRC=0, that is, the selective combining result of the firstsubflow is that CRC check is correct. When no CRC check result of adecoding result of a first subflow is 0, the first combining result is1, that is, the selective combining result of the first subflow is thatCRC check is incorrect.

Optionally, before step 102, the RNC further receives the decodingresults of the first subflows sent by the at least two base stations andbit error rates corresponding to the decoding results of the firstsubflows, and a person skilled in the art may understand that there isno strict time sequence between the receiving process and step 101.

Correspondingly, if the selective combining result of the first subflowsis that CRC check is correct, the RNC determines, among the decodingresults of the first subflows whose CRC check is correct, a decodingresult of a first subflow having a lowest bit error rate, and sends, tothe core network, the decoding result of the first subflow having thelowest bit error rate.

In step 103, when the selective combining result of the first subflowsis that CRC check is incorrect, the soft combining result of the firstsubflows is determined according to the at least two pieces of firstsoft information.

As can be seen from step 101, the first soft information may beclassified into first demodulation soft information or first decodingsoft information. Therefore, there are two possible implementationmanners in which the RNC determines the soft combining result of thefirst subflows according to the at least two pieces of first softinformation.

In one possible implementation manner, when the first soft informationis first demodulation soft information, the RNC obtains firstaccumulated demodulation soft information by accumulating at least twopieces of the first demodulation soft information, acquires a firstaccumulated decoding result by decoding the first accumulateddemodulation soft information, and uses the first accumulated decodingresult as the soft combining result of the first subflows.

Two pieces of first demodulation soft information are used as anexample. One piece of first demodulation soft information is [a1, a2,a3, . . . , an], and the other piece of first demodulation softinformation is [b1, b2, b3, . . . , bn]. In this case, the firstaccumulated demodulation soft information is [a1+b1, a2+b2, a3+b3, . . ., an+bn]. A process of accumulating the first demodulation softinformation is equivalent to maximum ratio combining, where a and b areintegers, and n is a natural number. The first accumulated demodulationsoft information is decoded to acquire the first accumulated decodingresult. A person skilled in the art may understand that any soft inputdecoding method is applicable to this embodiment, and is notspecifically limited in this embodiment. After obtaining the firstaccumulated decoding result, the RNC uses the first accumulated decodingresult as the soft combining result of the first subflows, and sends thesoft combining result of the first subflows to the core network.

In another possible implementation manner, when the first softinformation is first decoding soft information, the RNC accumulates atleast two pieces of the first decoding soft information to obtain firstaccumulated decoding soft information, performs hard decision on thefirst accumulated decoding soft information, and uses a hard decisionresult as the soft combining result of the first subflows.

Two pieces of first decoding soft information are used as an example.One piece of first decoding soft information is [c1, c2, c3, . . . ,cn], and the other piece of first decoding soft information is [d1, d2,d3, . . . , dn]. In this case, the first accumulated decoding softinformation is [c1+d1, c2+d2, c3+d3, . . . , cn+dn]. A process ofaccumulating the first decoding soft information is equivalent tomaximum ratio combining, where c and d are integers, and n is a naturalnumber. Hard decision is performed on the first accumulated decodingsoft information, and a specific process of hard decision is: If thefirst decoding soft information is greater than or equal to 0, acorresponding hard decision result is 1, or if the first decoding softinformation is less than 0, a corresponding hard decision result is 0.After obtaining the hard decision result, the RNC uses the hard decisionresult as the soft combining result of the first subflows, and sends thesoft combining result of the first subflows to the core network.

As can be seen above, in this embodiment, decoding is performed on theencoded signal twice. Specifically, when the first soft information isfirst demodulation soft information, when receiving the encoded signalsent by the mobile station, the base station performs the first time ofdecoding on the encoded signal, that is, the decoding result of thefirst subflows is obtained. When the selective combining result of thefirst subflows is that CRC check is incorrect, the RNC decodes the firstaccumulated demodulation soft information (which is the second time ofdecoding) to acquire a first accumulated decoding result, that is, thesoft combining result of the first subflows.

When the first soft information is first decoding soft information, whenreceiving the encoded signal sent by the mobile station, the basestation performs the first time of decoding on the encoded signal, thatis, the decoding result of the first subflows is obtained. At the sametime, the base station decodes the first demodulation soft informationto obtain the first decoding soft information; and the RNC acquiresfirst accumulated decoding soft information according to the firstdecoding soft information, and performs hard decision on the firstaccumulated decoding soft information to obtain a hard decision result,which is the second time of decoding.

In the prior art, when the first selective combining result is that CRCcheck is incorrect, a decoding process ends. However, in thisembodiment, when the first selective combining result is that CRC checkis incorrect, the decoding process does not end; instead, a second timeof decoding is performed, thereby improving decoding performance.

In this embodiment of the present invention, an RNC receives softinformation corresponding to encoded signals sent by at least two basestations and CRC check results of decoding results of first subflows inthe encoded signals, to obtain at least two pieces of the softinformation and at least two CRC check results of the decoding resultsof the first subflows, where the soft information includes first softinformation corresponding to the first subflows; performs selectivecombining according to the at least two CRC check results of thedecoding results of the first subflows to obtain a selective combiningresult of the first subflows; and if the selective combining result ofthe first subflows is that CRC check is incorrect, determines a softcombining result of the first subflows according to at least two piecesof the first soft information. In this embodiment, not only two decodingprocesses are performed, and in the second decoding process, maximumratio soft combining is performed by using soft information, so that amacro diversity gain of a soft handover is fully used, thereby greatlyimproving performance.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of Embodiment 2 of a signal processing methodaccording to the present invention. An execution body of this embodimentis a base station. The base station may be implemented by using softwareand/or hardware. The signal processing method provided in thisembodiment includes:

Step 201: Receive an encoded signal sent by a mobile station, where theencoded signal includes a first subflow.

Step 202: Acquire soft information corresponding to the encoded signaland a CRC check result of a decoding result of the first subflow, wherethe soft information includes first soft information corresponding tothe first subflow.

Step 203: Send the soft information corresponding to the encoded signaland the CRC check result of the decoding result of the first subflow inthe encoded signal to a radio network controller, for the radio networkcontroller performing selective combining according to the CRC checkresult of the decoding result of the first subflow in the encoded signalto obtain a selective combining result of the first subflow, anddetermining a soft combining result of the first subflow according tothe first soft information.

For an application scenario of this embodiment, refer to the applicationscenario shown in the embodiment in FIG. 1, which is not describedherein again in this embodiment.

In step 201, the base station receives the encoded signal sent by themobile station, where the encoded signal includes the first subflow.

In step 202 and step 203, the base station acquires and sends the softinformation corresponding to the encoded signal and the CRC check resultof the decoding result of the first subflow in the encoded signal to anRNC, so that the RNC acquires the selective combining result of thefirst subflow, or the RNC acquires the soft combining result of thefirst subflow. The soft information includes first soft informationcorresponding to the first subflow. The first soft information may befirst demodulation soft information or first decoding soft information.

For specific implementation processes of step 202 and step 203, refer tothe description of step 101, which is not described herein again in thisembodiment.

Optionally, the base station sends the decoding result of the firstsubflow in the encoded signal and a bit error rate corresponding to thedecoding result of the first subflow to the radio network controller, sothat the radio network controller determines a decoding result of afirst subflow having a lowest bit error rate.

In this provided embodiment of the present invention, a base stationacquires soft information corresponding to an encoded signal and a CRCcheck result of a decoding result of a first subflow in the encodedsignal, where the soft information includes first soft informationcorresponding to the first subflow; and sends the soft informationcorresponding to the encoded signal and the CRC check result of thedecoding result of the first subflow in the encoded signal to a radionetwork controller, so that the radio network controller performsselective combining according to the CRC check result of the decodingresult of the first subflow in the encoded signal to obtain a selectivecombining result of the first subflow, and determines a soft combiningresult of the first subflow according to the first soft information. Inthis embodiment, an RNC is enabled to perform maximum ratio softcombining by using soft information, so that a macro diversity gain of asoft handover is fully used, thereby greatly improving performance.

On the basis of the embodiments in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the encoded signalfurther includes a second subflow and a third subflow. In a specificimplementation process, the encoded signal may be an encoded speechsignal. The encoded speech signal may be an uplink adaptive multi-rate(AMR) encoded speech signal. The AMR speech signal includes threesubflows A, B, and C, which are correspondingly a first subflow, asecond subflow, and a third subflow. The first subflow, that is, thesubflow A, includes CRC. Neither the second subflow nor the thirdsubflow includes CRC. Therefore, for the second subflow and the thirdsubflow, that is, the subflow B and the subflow C, decoding processingcan be performed by using a decoder in the prior art, to obtain decodingresults of the second subflow and the third subflow.

Several specific embodiments are used below to further describe indetail a technical solution in which the encoded signal includes thesecond subflow and the third subflow.

In a possible implementation manner, the soft information furtherincludes second demodulation soft information corresponding to thesecond subflow and third demodulation soft information corresponding tothe third subflow.

In a specific implementation process, the soft information sent by eachbase station and received by the RNC further includes seconddemodulation soft information and third demodulation soft information.

For the second demodulation soft information and the third demodulationsoft information that are sent by the at least two base stations, theRNC performs the following processing:

accumulating, by the RNC, at least two pieces of the second demodulationsoft information to obtain second accumulated demodulation softinformation, decoding the second accumulated demodulation softinformation to acquire a second accumulated decoding result, and usingthe second accumulated decoding result as a first soft combining resultof the second subflows; and

accumulating, by the RNC, at least two pieces of the third demodulationsoft information to obtain third accumulated demodulation softinformation, decoding the third accumulated demodulation softinformation to acquire a third accumulated decoding result, and usingthe third accumulated decoding result as a first soft combining resultof the third subflows.

A processing process of accumulating at least two pieces of the seconddemodulation soft information and at least two pieces of the thirddemodulation soft information by the RNC is similar to the process ofaccumulating at least two pieces of the first demodulation softinformation by the RNC, which is not described herein again in thisembodiment.

In this embodiment, the RNC sends the first soft combining result of thesecond subflows and the first soft combining result of the thirdsubflows to a core network, so that the core network performs asubsequent communication process.

In another possible implementation manner, the soft information furtherincludes second decoding soft information corresponding to the secondsubflow and third decoding soft information corresponding to the thirdsubflow.

In a specific implementation process, the soft information sent by eachbase station and received by the RNC further includes second decodingsoft information and third decoding soft information.

For the second decoding soft information and the third decoding softinformation sent by the at least two base stations, the RNC performs thefollowing processing:

accumulating, by the RNC, at least two pieces of the second decodingsoft information to obtain second accumulated decoding soft information,performing hard decision on the second accumulated decoding softinformation, and using a hard decision result as a second soft combiningresult of the second subflows; and

accumulating, by the RNC, at least two pieces of the third decoding softinformation to obtain third accumulated decoding soft information,performing hard decision on the third accumulated decoding softinformation, and using a hard decision result as a second soft combiningresult of the third subflows.

A processing process of accumulating at least two pieces of the seconddecoding soft information and at least two pieces of the third decodingsoft information by the RNC is similar to a process of accumulating atleast two pieces of the first decoding soft information by the RNC,which is not described herein again in this embodiment.

In this embodiment, the RNC sends the second soft combining result ofthe second subflows and the second soft combining result of the thirdsubflows to a core network, so that the core network performs asubsequent communication process.

In another possible implementation manner, to reduce a transmissiontraffic load of a private interface, the base station simplifies thesecond demodulation soft information and the third demodulation softinformation.

Specifically, the base station encodes a decoding result of the secondsubflow to obtain an encoded bit of the second subflow, and generates,according to the encoded bit of the second subflow and seconddemodulation soft information corresponding to the second subflow, asecond soft metric corresponding to the second subflow. In a specificimplementation process, the encoded bit of the second subflow and thesecond demodulation soft information are multiplied to generate thesecond soft metric.

The base station encodes a decoding result of the third subflow toobtain an encoded bit of the third subflow, and generates, according tothe encoded bit of the third subflow and third demodulation softinformation corresponding to the third subflow, a third soft metriccorresponding to the third subflow. In a specific implementationprocess, the encoded bit of the third subflow and the third demodulationsoft information are multiplied to generate the third soft metric.

A person skilled in the art may understand that implementation mannersof the second soft metric and the third soft metric are the same. Inthis embodiment, the second soft metric is used as an example fordetailed description.

The base station first acquires the second subflow in the encodedsignal, decodes the second subflow to obtain a decoding result of thesecond subflow, and then encodes the decoding result of the secondsubflow to obtain an encoded bit of the second subflow. A person skilledin the art may understand that in a decoding process, the base stationperforms corresponding error correction on the acquired second subflowin the encoded signal. Therefore, as compared with the second subflow inthe encoded signal, the encoded bit of the second subflow is closer toan encoded bit of a source signal. Specifically, the encoded bit of thesecond subflow may be [101011], and the second demodulation softinformation corresponding to the second subflow is [5, 6, 1, 3, −2, 1].Therefore, during calculation of the second soft metric, each 0 in theencoded bit of the second subflow is first changed to −1 to obtain [1,−1, 1, −1, 1, 1], and therefore a value of the second soft metric is1×5+(−1)×6+1×1+(−1)×3+1×(−2)+1×1=−4.

Therefore, the soft information sent by the base station to the RNCfurther includes the second soft metric corresponding to the secondsubflow and the third soft metric corresponding to the third subflow.Further, the base station further sends the decoding result of thesecond subflow and the decoding result of the third subflow to the RNC.

In a process of a soft handover, the RNC receives the decoding resultsof the second subflows and the decoding results of the third subflowsthat are sent by the at least two base stations;

compares the second soft metrics corresponding to the second subflows,and uses a decoding result of a second subflow corresponding to amaximum second soft metric as a third soft combining result of thesecond subflows; and

compares the third soft metrics corresponding to the third subflows, anduses a decoding result of a third subflow corresponding to a maximumthird soft metric as a third soft combining result of the thirdsubflows.

In this embodiment, the RNC sends the third soft combining result of thesecond subflows and the third soft combining result of the thirdsubflows to a core network, so that the core network performs asubsequent communication process.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the second subflow and thethird subflow are processed, so that performance of the second subflowand the third subflow is ensured, and quality of service (QoS) of thefirst subflow, the second subflow, and the third subflow is balanced.

On the basis of the foregoing embodiments, after obtaining the selectivecombining result of the first subflows and the soft combining result ofthe first subflows, the RNC sends the selective combining result of thefirst subflows to an outer loop power control module; or the RNCperforms CRC check on the soft combining result of the first subflows,and sends a check result to an outer loop power control module.

In a specific implementation process, in outer loop power control, asame target block error rate (BLER) is preset for the first subflow, thesecond subflow, and the third subflow. Once decoding performance of thefirst subflow is improved, a BLER of the first subflow is less than atarget BLER set by outer loop power control. Therefore, outer loop powercontrol needs to reduce AMR power. However, once AMR power is lowered, afinal result of the reduction is that a BLER of the first subflowremains unchanged, but BLERs of the second subflow and the third subfloware increased, resulting in a decrease in a mean opinion score (MOS) ofspeech. It is found through experiments that if AMR power is reduced by0.3 dB, a MOS is reduced by about 0.1 point.

In a specific implementation process, the RNC sends a CRC check resultof the selective combining result of the first subflows (decodingperformance of the corresponding first subflows is low) to an outer looppower control module, to ensure that only speech quality is improvedwithout affecting outer loop power control (that is, transmit power isnot affected). The RNC sends the CRC check result of the soft combiningresult of the first subflows (decoding performance of the correspondingfirst subflows is desirable) to the outer loop power control module,thereby improving a BLER of outer loop power control, that is, loweringtransmit power; at the same time, because accumulated decoding isperformed on the second subflow and the third subflow by using the softinformation to obtain gains, quality of speech is also improved.

The technical solutions of the present invention are described in detailbelow by using several specific embodiments and comparison embodimentsand in combination with simulation experiments. The embodiments listedbelow are specifically described for that an encoded signal is anencoded speech signal and includes a first subflow, a second subflow,and a third subflow, a selective combining result of the first subflowis that CRC check is incorrect, and a soft combining result of the firstsubflow is determined according to at least two pieces of first softinformation. For MOS performance corresponding to the embodiments, referto FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is a diagram of simulation performance on a CASE3channel of the embodiments.

Comparison Embodiment 1

A method in the prior art in the background is used, and base stationsuse a Viterbi algorithm (VA) to perform decoding processing on firstsubflows, second subflows, and third subflows. The base stations senddecoding results of the first subflows, the second subflows, and thethird subflows and CRC check results of the decoding results of thefirst subflows to an RNC. The RNC performs selective combining on themultiple CRC check results, sends, to an outer loop power controlmodule, a result in which a selective combining result is that CRC checkis incorrect, and selects, among all links, a decoding result having alowest bit error rate and sends the decoding result to a core network.For an obtained curve of MOS performance, refer to a baseline VA in FIG.3.

Comparison Embodiment 2

A method in the prior art in the background is used, and base stationsuse a parallel list Viterbi algorithm (PLVA) to perform decodingprocessing on first subflows, second subflows, and third subflows. Thebase stations send decoding results of the first subflows, the secondsubflows, and the third subflows and CRC check results of the decodingresults of the first subflows to an RNC. The RNC performs selectivecombining on multiple CRC check results, sends, to an outer loop powercontrol module, a result in which a selective combining result is thatCRC check is incorrect, and selects, among all links, a decoding resulthaving a lowest bit error rate and sends the decoding result to a corenetwork. For an obtained curve of MOS performance, refer to a baselinePLVA in FIG. 3.

Embodiment 1

Each first subflow is first demodulation soft information, each secondsubflow is second demodulation soft information, and each third subflowis third demodulation soft information.

When base stations send the first demodulation soft information, thesecond demodulation soft information, and the third demodulation softinformation to an RNC, a newly added private interface is used forimplementation. In a transmission process, the base stations need toperform 6-bit quantization on the first demodulation soft information,the second demodulation soft information, and the third demodulationsoft information. The traffic of the newly added private interface isabout 19 times as large as that in the prior art. In a case of 4-bitquantization, the traffic of the newly added private interface is about13 times as large as that in the prior art. The prior art refers totraffic generated when a base station performs 8-bit quantization ondemodulation data, then performs decoding, and sends a decoding resultto an RNC.

The RNC accumulates at least two pieces of the first demodulation softinformation to obtain first accumulated demodulation soft information,decodes the first accumulated demodulation soft information to acquire afirst accumulated decoding result, uses the first accumulated decodingresult as a soft combining result of the first subflows, and sends thesoft combining result of the first subflows to a core network; sends aselective combining result of the first subflows to an outer loop powercontrol module; or performs CRC check on the soft combining result ofthe first subflows, and sends a check result to an outer loop powercontrol module.

The RNC accumulates at least two pieces of the second demodulation softinformation to obtain second accumulated demodulation soft information,decodes the second accumulated demodulation soft information to acquirea second accumulated decoding result, and uses the second accumulateddecoding result as a first soft combining result of the second subflows;and accumulates at least two pieces of the third demodulation softinformation to obtain third accumulated demodulation soft information,decodes the third accumulated demodulation soft information to acquire athird accumulated decoding result, and uses the third accumulateddecoding result as a first soft combining result of the third subflow;and sends the first soft combining result of the second subflows and thefirst soft combining result of the third subflows to the core network.

Embodiment 2

Each first subflow is first demodulation soft information, each secondsubflow is a second soft metric, and each third subflow is a third softmetric. For a specific processing manner, refer to the foregoingembodiments.

When base stations send the first demodulation soft information, thesecond soft metric, and the third soft metric to an RNC, a newly addedprivate interface is used for implementation. In a transmission process,the base stations need to perform 6-bit quantization on the firstdemodulation soft information and perform 8-bit quantization on thesecond soft metric and the third soft metric. The traffic of the newlyadded private interface is about 19 times as large as that in the priorart. In a case of 4-bit quantization, the traffic of the newly addedprivate interface is about two times as large as that in the prior art.As compared with Embodiment 1, in Embodiment 2, a traffic load isreduced by using a simplified process.

The RNC accumulates at least two pieces of the first demodulation softinformation to obtain first accumulated demodulation soft information,decodes the first accumulated demodulation soft information to acquire afirst accumulated decoding result, uses the first accumulated decodingresult as a soft combining result of the first subflows, and sends thesoft combining result of the first subflows to a core network; sends aselective combining result of the first subflows to an outer loop powercontrol module; or performs CRC check on the soft combining result ofthe first subflows, and sends a check result to an outer loop powercontrol module.

The RNC receives decoding results of the second subflows and decodingresults of the third subflows that are sent by the at least two basestations; compares the second soft metrics corresponding to the secondsubflows, and uses a decoding result of a second subflow correspondingto a maximum second soft metric as a third soft combining result of thesecond subflows; and compares the third soft metrics corresponding tothe third subflows, and uses a decoding result of a third subflowcorresponding to a maximum third soft metric as a third soft combiningresult of the third subflows; and sends the third soft combining resultof the second subflows and the third soft combining result of the thirdsubflows to the core network.

Embodiment 3

Each first subflow is first decoding soft information, each secondsubflow is second decoding soft information, and each third subflow isthird decoding soft information.

When base stations send the first decoding soft information, the seconddecoding soft information, and the third decoding soft information to anRNC, a newly added private interface is used for implementation. In atransmission process, the base stations need to perform 6-bitquantization on the first decoding soft information, the second decodingsoft information, and the third decoding soft information. The trafficof the newly added private interface is about six times as large as thatin the prior art. In a case of 4-bit quantization, the traffic of thenewly added private interface is about four times as large as that inthe prior art.

The RNC accumulates at least two pieces of the first decoding softinformation to obtain first accumulated decoding soft information;performs hard decision on the first accumulated decoding softinformation, uses a hard decision result as a soft combining result ofthe first subflows, and sends the soft combining result of the firstsubflows to a core network; sends a selective combining result of thefirst subflows to an outer loop power control module; or performs CRCcheck on the soft combining result of the first subflows, and sends acheck result to an outer loop power control module.

The RNC accumulates at least two pieces of the second decoding softinformation to obtain second accumulated decoding soft information,performs hard decision on the second accumulated decoding softinformation, and uses a hard decision result as a second soft combiningresult of the second subflows; and accumulates at least two pieces ofthe third decoding soft information to obtain third accumulated decodingsoft information, performs hard decision on the third accumulateddecoding soft information, and uses a hard decision result as a secondsoft combining result of the third subflows; and sends the second softcombining result of the second subflows and the second soft combiningresult of the third subflows to the core network.

Embodiment 4

Each first subflow is first decoding soft information, each secondsubflow is a second soft metric, and each third subflow is a third softmetric.

When base stations send the first decoding soft information, the secondsoft metric, and the third soft metric to an RNC, a newly added privateinterface is used for implementation. In a transmission process, thebase stations need to perform 6-bit quantization on the first decodingsoft information and perform 8-bit quantization on the second softmetric and the third soft metric. The traffic of the newly added privateinterface is about one time as large as that in the prior art. Ascompared with Embodiment 3, in Embodiment 4, a traffic load is reducedby using a simplified process.

The RNC accumulates at least two pieces of the first decoding softinformation to obtain first accumulated decoding soft information;performs hard decision on the first accumulated decoding softinformation, uses a hard decision result as a soft combining result ofthe first subflows, and sends the soft combining result of the firstsubflows to a core network; sends a selective combining result of thefirst subflows to an outer loop power control module; or performs CRCcheck on the soft combining result of the first subflows, and sends acheck result to an outer loop power control module.

The RNC receives decoding results of the second subflows and decodingresults of the third subflows that are sent by the at least two basestations; compares the second soft metrics corresponding to the secondsubflows, and uses a decoding result of a second subflow correspondingto a maximum second soft metric as a third soft combining result of thesecond subflows; and compares the third soft metrics corresponding tothe third subflows, and uses a decoding result of a third subflowcorresponding to a maximum third soft metric as a third soft combiningresult of the third subflows; and sends the third soft combining resultof the second subflows and the third soft combining result of the thirdsubflows to the core network.

For curves of MOS performance corresponding to Embodiment 1 toEmbodiment 4, refer to FIG. 3. As can be seen from FIG. 3, because softinformation is not used to perform a second time of decoding inComparison Embodiment 1 and Comparison Embodiment 2, MOS scores ofspeech in Comparison Embodiment 1 and Comparison Embodiment 2 are thelowest. Because in Embodiment 1, demodulation soft information is usedfor each subflow, and the demodulation soft information is notsimplified, a MOS score of speech in Embodiment 1 is the greatest. InEmbodiment 3, decoding soft information is used for each subflow, thedecoding soft information is obtained by decoding the demodulation softinformation by the base station, and the decoding soft information isnot simplified in Embodiment 3; therefore, a MOS score in Embodiment 3is less than that in Embodiment 1 and is greater than those inEmbodiment 2 and Embodiment 4. In Embodiment 2 and Embodiment 4, thesecond subflow and the third subflow are both properly simplified, thesoft information is the second soft metric and the third soft metric,but first demodulation soft information is used for the first subflow inEmbodiment 2, and first decoding soft information is used for the firstsubflow in Embodiment 4; therefore, a MOS score of speech in Embodiment2 is greater than that in Embodiment 4.

Further, as can be seen from FIG. 3, in Embodiment 1, when transmitpower of a mobile station is 3.3 dB, there is basically no erroredframe, and a MOS score reaches a maximum value. In other embodiments, asthe transmit power of the mobile station increases, the MOS scoreincreases. Therefore, a person skilled in the art may understand that,if a MOS score same as that in Comparison Embodiment 1 and ComparisonEmbodiment 2 is reached in Embodiment 1 to Embodiment 4, the transmitpower of the mobile station in Embodiment 1 to Embodiment 4 can bereduced. If the mobile station is at same transmit power in Embodiment 1to Embodiment 4, an obtained MOS score is greater.

FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of Embodiment 1 of a radionetwork controller according to the present invention. As shown in FIG.4, the radio network controller 40 provided in this embodiment of thepresent invention includes a receiving module 401, a selective combiningmodule 402, and a soft combining module 403.

The receiving module 401 is configured to receive soft informationcorresponding to encoded signals sent by at least two base stations andCRC check results of decoding results of first subflows in the encodedsignals, to obtain at least two pieces of the soft information and atleast two CRC check results of the decoding results of the firstsubflows, where the soft information includes first soft informationcorresponding to the first subflows.

The selective combining module 402 is configured to perform selectivecombining according to the at least two CRC check results of thedecoding results of the first subflows to obtain a selective combiningresult of the first subflows.

The soft combining module 403 is configured to: if the selectivecombining result of the first subflows is that CRC check is incorrect,determine a soft combining result of the first subflows according to atleast two pieces of the first soft information.

The radio network controller provided in this embodiment of the presentinvention can be used to execute the technical solutions of theforegoing method embodiments, and implementation principles andtechnical effects thereof are similar, and are not described hereinagain.

FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of Embodiment 2 of a radionetwork controller according to the present invention. As shown in FIG.5, this embodiment is implemented on the basis of the embodiment in FIG.4, and is specifically as follows:

Optionally, the first soft information is first demodulation softinformation, and the soft combining module 403 is specificallyconfigured to:

accumulate at least two pieces of the first demodulation softinformation to obtain first accumulated demodulation soft information;and

decode the first accumulated demodulation soft information to acquire afirst accumulated decoding result, and use the first accumulateddecoding result as the soft combining result of the first subflows.

Optionally, the first soft information is first decoding softinformation, the soft combining module 403 is specifically configuredto:

accumulate at least two pieces of the first decoding soft information toobtain first accumulated decoding soft information; and

perform hard decision on the first accumulated decoding softinformation, and use a hard decision result as the soft combining resultof the first subflows.

Optionally, the encoded signals further include second subflows andthird subflows, and the soft information further includes seconddemodulation soft information corresponding to the second subflows andthird demodulation soft information corresponding to the third subflows;and

the soft combining module 403 is further specifically configured to:

accumulate at least two pieces of the second demodulation softinformation to obtain second accumulated demodulation soft information,decode the second accumulated demodulation soft information to acquire asecond accumulated decoding result, and use the second accumulateddecoding result as a first soft combining result of the second subflows;and

accumulate at least two pieces of the third demodulation softinformation to obtain third accumulated demodulation soft information,decode the third accumulated demodulation soft information to acquire athird accumulated decoding result, and use the third accumulateddecoding result as a first soft combining result of the third subflows.

Optionally, the encoded signals further include second subflows andthird subflows, and the soft information further includes seconddecoding soft information corresponding to the second subflows and thirddecoding soft information corresponding to the third subflows; and

the soft combining module 403 is further specifically configured to:

accumulate at least two pieces of the second decoding soft informationto obtain second accumulated decoding soft information, perform harddecision on the second accumulated decoding soft information, and use ahard decision result as a second soft combining result of the secondsubflows; and

accumulate at least two pieces of the third decoding soft information toobtain third accumulated decoding soft information, perform harddecision on the third accumulated decoding soft information, and use ahard decision result as a second soft combining result of the thirdsubflows.

Optionally, the encoded signals further include second subflows andthird subflows, and the soft information further includes second softmetrics corresponding to the second subflows and third soft metricscorresponding to the third subflows; and

the receiving module 401 is further specifically configured to:

receive decoding results of the second subflows and decoding results ofthe third subflows that are sent by the at least two base stations;

compare the second soft metrics corresponding to the second subflows,and use a decoding result of a second subflow corresponding to a maximumsecond soft metric as a third soft combining result of the secondsubflows; and

compare the third soft metrics corresponding to the third subflows, anduse a decoding result of a third subflow corresponding to a maximumthird soft metric as a third soft combining result of the thirdsubflows.

Optionally, the receiving module 401 is further specifically configuredto: before selective combining is performed according to the at leasttwo CRC check results of the decoding results of the first subflows toobtain the selective combining result of the first subflows, receive thedecoding results of the first subflows sent by the at least two basestations and bit error rates corresponding to the decoding results ofthe first subflows; and

the radio network controller further includes:

a check module 404, configured to: if the selective combining result ofthe first subflows is that CRC check is correct, determine, among thedecoding results of the first subflows whose CRC check is correct, adecoding result of a first subflow having a lowest bit error rate.

Optionally, the radio network controller further includes:

a sending module 405, configured to: after the soft combining result ofthe first subflows is determined according to the at least two pieces offirst soft information,

send the selective combining result of the first subflows to an outerloop power control module, so that the outer loop power control modulecontrols transmit power of a mobile station; or

perform CRC check on the soft combining result of the first subflows,and send a check result to an outer loop power control module, so thatthe outer loop power control module controls transmit power of a mobilestation.

The radio network controller provided in this embodiment of the presentinvention can be used to execute the technical solutions of theforegoing method embodiments, and implementation principles andtechnical effects thereof are similar, and are not described hereinagain.

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of Embodiment 1 of a basestation according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 6, the basestation 60 provided in this embodiment of the present inventionincludes: a receiving module 601, an acquiring module 602, and a sendingmodule 603.

The receiving module 601 is configured to receive an encoded signal sentby a mobile station, where the encoded signal includes a first subflow.

The acquiring module 602 is configured to acquire soft informationcorresponding to the encoded signal and a CRC check result of a decodingresult of the first subflow, where the soft information includes firstsoft information corresponding to the first subflow.

The sending module 603 is configured to send the soft informationcorresponding to the encoded signal and the CRC check result of thedecoding result of the first subflow in the encoded signal to a radionetwork controller, so that the radio network controller performsselective combining according to the CRC check result of the decodingresult of the first subflow in the encoded signal to obtain a selectivecombining result of the first subflow, and determines a soft combiningresult of the first subflow according to the first soft information.

Optionally, the first soft information is first demodulation softinformation, or, the first soft information is first decoding softinformation.

Optionally, the encoded signal further includes a second subflow and athird subflow, and the soft information further includes seconddemodulation soft information corresponding to the second subflow andthird demodulation soft information corresponding to the third subflow.

Optionally, the encoded signal further includes a second subflow and athird subflow, and the soft information further includes second decodingsoft information corresponding to the second subflow and third decodingsoft information corresponding to the third subflow.

Optionally, the encoded signal further includes a second subflow and athird subflow, and the base station further includes:

an encoding module, configured to: before the soft informationcorresponding to the encoded signal and the CRC check result of thedecoding result of the first subflow in the encoded signal are sent tothe radio network controller,

encode a decoding result of the second subflow to obtain an encoded bitof the second subflow, and generate, according to the encoded bit of thesecond subflow and second demodulation soft information corresponding tothe second subflow, a second soft metric corresponding to the secondsubflow; and

encode a decoding result of the third subflow to obtain an encoded bitof the third subflow, and generate, according to the encoded bit of thethird subflow and third demodulation soft information corresponding tothe third subflow, a third soft metric corresponding to the thirdsubflow, where

the soft information further includes the second soft metriccorresponding to the second subflow and the third soft metriccorresponding to the third subflow.

Optionally, the sending module 603 is further specifically configuredto:

send the decoding result of the first subflow in the encoded signal anda bit error rate corresponding to the decoding result of the firstsubflow to the radio network controller, so that the radio networkcontroller determines a decoding result of a first subflow having alowest bit error rate.

The base station provided in this embodiment of the present inventioncan be used to execute the technical solutions of the foregoing methodembodiments, and implementation principles and technical effects thereofare similar, and are not described herein again.

FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of Embodiment 3 of a radionetwork controller according to the present invention. As shown in FIG.7, the radio network controller 70 provided in this embodiment of thepresent invention includes a receiver 701, a processor 702, and atransmitter 703.

The receiver 701 is configured to receive soft information correspondingto encoded signals sent by at least two base stations and CRC checkresults of decoding results of first subflows in the encoded signals, toobtain at least two pieces of the soft information and at least two CRCcheck results of the decoding results of the first subflows, where thesoft information includes first soft information corresponding to thefirst subflows.

The processor 702 is configured to perform selective combining accordingto the at least two CRC check results of the decoding results of thefirst subflows to obtain a selective combining result of the firstsubflows, and if the selective combining result of the first subflows isthat CRC check is incorrect, determine a soft combining result of thefirst subflows according to at least two pieces of the first softinformation.

Optionally, the first soft information is first demodulation softinformation, and the processor 702 is specifically configured to:

accumulate at least two pieces of the first demodulation softinformation to obtain first accumulated demodulation soft information;and

decode the first accumulated demodulation soft information to acquire afirst accumulated decoding result, and use the first accumulateddecoding result as the soft combining result of the first subflows.

Optionally, the first soft information is first decoding softinformation, and the processor 702 is specifically configured to:

accumulate at least two pieces of the first decoding soft information toobtain first accumulated decoding soft information; and

perform hard decision on the first accumulated decoding softinformation, and use a hard decision result as the soft combining resultof the first subflows.

Optionally, the encoded signals further include second subflows andthird subflows, and the soft information further includes seconddemodulation soft information corresponding to the second subflows andthird demodulation soft information corresponding to the third subflows;and

the processor 702 is further configured to:

accumulate at least two pieces of the second demodulation softinformation to obtain second accumulated demodulation soft information,decode the second accumulated demodulation soft information to acquire asecond accumulated decoding result, and use the second accumulateddecoding result as a first soft combining result of the second subflows;and

accumulate at least two pieces of the third demodulation softinformation to obtain third accumulated demodulation soft information,decode the third accumulated demodulation soft information to acquire athird accumulated decoding result, and use the third accumulateddecoding result as a first soft combining result of the third subflows.

Optionally, the encoded signals further include second subflows andthird subflows, and the soft information further includes seconddecoding soft information corresponding to the second subflows and thirddecoding soft information corresponding to the third subflows; and

the processor 702 is further configured to:

accumulate at least two pieces of the second decoding soft informationto obtain second accumulated decoding soft information, perform harddecision on the second accumulated decoding soft information, and use ahard decision result as a second soft combining result of the secondsubflows; and

accumulate at least two pieces of the third decoding soft information toobtain third accumulated decoding soft information, perform harddecision on the third accumulated decoding soft information, and use ahard decision result as a second soft combining result of the thirdsubflows.

Optionally, the encoded signals further include second subflows andthird subflows, and the soft information further includes second softmetrics corresponding to the second subflows and third soft metricscorresponding to the third subflows;

the receiver 701 is further configured to receive decoding results ofthe second subflows and decoding results of the third subflows that aresent by the at least two base stations; and

the processor 702 is further configured to:

compare the second soft metrics corresponding to the second subflows,and use a decoding result of a second subflow corresponding to a maximumsecond soft metric as a third soft combining result of the secondsubflows; and

compare the third soft metrics corresponding to the third subflows, anduse a decoding result of a third subflow corresponding to a maximumthird soft metric as a third soft combining result of the thirdsubflows.

Optionally, the receiver 701 is further configured to: before selectivecombining is performed according to the at least two CRC check resultsof the decoding results of the first subflows to obtain the selectivecombining result of the first subflows, receive the decoding results ofthe first subflows sent by the at least two base stations and bit errorrates corresponding to the decoding results of the first subflows; and

the processor 702 is further configured to:

if the selective combining result of the first subflows is that CRCcheck is correct, determine, among the decoding results of the firstsubflows whose CRC check is correct, a decoding result of a firstsubflow having a lowest bit error rate.

Optionally, the transmitter 703 is configured to: after the softcombining result of the first subflows is determined according to the atleast two pieces of first soft information, send the selective combiningresult of the first subflows to an outer loop power control module, sothat the outer loop power control module controls transmit power of amobile station; or

the processor 702 is further configured to: after the soft combiningresult of the first subflows is determined according to the at least twopieces of first soft information, perform CRC check on the softcombining result of the first subflows, and a transmitter 703 is furtherspecifically configured to send a check result to an outer loop powercontrol module, so that the outer loop power control module controlstransmit power of a mobile station.

The radio network controller provided in this embodiment of the presentinvention can be used to execute the technical solutions of theforegoing method embodiments, and implementation principles andtechnical effects thereof are similar, and are not described hereinagain.

FIG. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of Embodiment 2 of a basestation according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 8, the basestation 80 provided in this embodiment of the present invention includesa receiver 801, a processor 802, and a transmitter 803.

The receiver 801 is configured to receive an encoded signal sent by amobile station, where the encoded signal includes a first subflow.

The processor 802 is configured to acquire soft informationcorresponding to the encoded signal and a CRC check result of a decodingresult of the first subflow, where the soft information includes firstsoft information corresponding to the first subflow.

The transmitter 803 is configured to send the soft informationcorresponding to the encoded signal and the CRC check result of thedecoding result of the first subflow in the encoded signal to a radionetwork controller, so that the radio network controller performsselective combining according to the CRC check result of the decodingresult of the first subflow in the encoded signal to obtain a selectivecombining result of the first subflow, and determines a soft combiningresult of the first subflow according to the first soft information.

Optionally, the first soft information is first demodulation softinformation, or, the first soft information is first decoding softinformation.

Optionally, the encoded signal further includes a second subflow and athird subflow, and the soft information further includes seconddemodulation soft information corresponding to the second subflow andthird demodulation soft information corresponding to the third subflow.

Optionally, the encoded signal further includes a second subflow and athird subflow, and the soft information further includes second decodingsoft information corresponding to the second subflow and third decodingsoft information corresponding to the third subflow.

Optionally, the encoded signal further includes a second subflow and athird subflow, and

the processor 802 is further configured to: before the soft informationcorresponding to the encoded signal and the CRC check result of thedecoding result of the first subflow in the encoded signal are sent tothe radio network controller, encode a decoding result of the secondsubflow to obtain an encoded bit of the second subflow, and generate,according to the encoded bit of the second subflow and seconddemodulation soft information corresponding to the second subflow, asecond soft metric corresponding to the second subflow; and

encode a decoding result of the third subflow to obtain an encoded bitof the third subflow, and generate, according to the encoded bit of thethird subflow and third demodulation soft information corresponding tothe third subflow, a third soft metric corresponding to the thirdsubflow, where

the soft information further includes the second soft metriccorresponding to the second subflow and the third soft metriccorresponding to the third subflow.

Optionally, the transmitter 803 is further specifically configured to:

send the decoding result of the first subflow in the encoded signal anda bit error rate corresponding to the decoding result of the firstsubflow to the radio network controller, so that the radio networkcontroller determines a decoding result of a first subflow having alowest bit error rate.

Persons of ordinary skill in the art may understand that all or some ofthe steps of the method embodiments may be implemented by a programinstructing related hardware. The program may be stored in acomputer-readable storage medium. When the program runs, the steps ofthe method embodiments are performed. The foregoing storage mediumincludes: any medium that can store program code, such as a ROM, a RAM,a magnetic disk, or an optical disc.

Finally, it should be noted that the foregoing embodiments are merelyintended for describing the technical solutions of the presentinvention, but not for limiting the present invention. Although thepresent invention is described in detail with reference to the foregoingembodiments, persons of ordinary skill in the art should understand thatthey may still make modifications to the technical solutions describedin the foregoing embodiments or make equivalent replacements to some orall technical features thereof, without departing from the scope of thetechnical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A signal processing method comprising: receiving,by a radio network controller, first soft information associated with afirst encoded signal and a first cyclic redundancy check (CRC), whereinthe first soft information is sent by a first base station and resultsfrom decoding a first subflow of the first encoded signal, and whereinthe first encoded signal originates from a mobile station and the firstsoft information is a likelihood probability value and comprises firstsoft information associated with the first subflow; obtaining, by theradio network controller, a selective combining result of the firstsubflow by performing selective combining according to (a) a result ofthe first CRC and (b) a result of a second CRC obtained from decoding ofthe first subflow in a second encoded signal received from a second basestation; and in response to the selective combining result indicatingeither the first or second CRC is incorrect, determining, by the radionetwork controller, a soft combining result of the first subflowaccording to the first soft information from the first base station andfirst soft information from the second base station.
 2. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the first encoded signal is an encodedspeech signal.
 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the firstencoded signal is an adaptive multi-rate (AMR) encoded speech signal. 4.The method according to claim 1, wherein the first soft information fromthe first and second base stations is first demodulation softinformation.
 5. In a mobile communication system comprising a radionetwork controller and a base station, the radio network controllercomprising: a processor; a receiver configured to cooperate with theprocessor to receive at least two pieces of soft informationcorresponding to encoded signals and at least two cyclic redundancycheck (CRC) results from at least two base stations, wherein the CRCresults are obtained from decoded results of a subflow in each of theencoded signals, and each of the at least two pieces of soft informationis a likelihood probability value corresponding to one of the subflows;and the processor configured to (i) obtain a selective combining resultof a first subflow by performing selective combining according to (a) aresult of a first CRC obtained from decoding the first subflow in afirst encoded signal received from a first base station and (b) a resultof a second CRC obtained from decoding the first subflow in a secondencoded signal received from a second base station, and (ii) determine asoft combining result of the subflow according to the at least twopieces of soft information in response to the selective combining resultof the subflows establishing that either the first or second CRC isincorrect.
 6. The mobile communication system according to claim 5,wherein each of the encoded signals is an encoded speech signal.
 7. Themobile communication system according to claim 5, wherein each of theencoded signals is an adaptive multi-rate (AMR) encoded speech signal.8. The mobile communication system according to claim 5, wherein thesoft information is demodulation soft information.
 9. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the first soft information from the firstand second base stations is decoding soft information.
 10. Anon-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions forexecution by a processor that, when executed by the processor, providingat least the following functions: receive at least two pieces of softinformation corresponding to encoded signals and at least two cyclicredundancy check (CRC) results from at least two base stations, whereinthe CRC results are obtained from decoded results of a subflow in eachof the encoded signals, and wherein each of the at least two pieces ofsoft information is a likelihood probability value corresponding to thesubflow of one of the encoded signals; obtain a selective combiningresult of a first subflow by performing selective combining according to(a) a result of a first CRC obtained from decoding the first subflow ina first encoded signal received from a first base station and (b) aresult of a second CRC obtained from decoding the first subflow in asecond encoded signal received from a second base station; and determinea soft combining result of the subflow according to the at least twopieces of soft information in response to the selective combining resultof the subflows establishing that either the first or second CRC isincorrect.
 11. The non-transitory computer readable medium according toclaim 10, wherein each of the encoded signals is an encoded speechsignal.
 12. The non-transitory computer readable medium according toclaim 10, wherein each of the encoded signals is an adaptive multi-rate(AMR) encoded speech signal.
 13. The non-transitory computer readablemedium according to claim 10, wherein the soft information isdemodulation soft information.
 14. The non-transitory computer readablemedium according to claim 10, wherein the soft information is decodingsoft information.